Migrating from BE 12.5 to BE 15 on different servers

[KevinBCI]

Greetings,

I am in the process of migrating from the old 12.5 version of Backup Exec on a Windows server 2003 box to another server with Windows server 2008 R2, and moving to BE 15.  I've already installed the app and licenses on the new server, and was looking how to transfer the catalogs and information from the old one.  Also any whitepapers there might be for recreating my environment would be appreciated as well.  I'm currently wading through some other posts but they tend to be migrating from more recent versions of BE, so I don't know how much of a difference it may be. 

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

[CraigV]

Hi,

It's not a straight migration from BE 12.5 to BE 2015 and transferring catalogs might not work.

Read below:

https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.HOWTO98878.html

You might have to consider upgrading the old server to BE 2014 and then to BE 2015, and THEN transferring the catalogs. Just stop the BE services and grab copies of the Data/Catalogs folders before upgrading, and then use the TN below:

https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.TECH67768.html

Thanks!

[KevinBCI]

Thanks Craig, is it possible to download older versions then to upgrade in stages, or do I have to contact Support about that?  It seems like the best solution is to get everything running on the new server and work on the upgrade/export of the old stuff as I can. 

[CraigV]

It is yes. I have the link on my work laptop and will paste it here in the morning.

Thanks!

[VJware · Accepted solution]

From BE 12.5, upgrade to BE 2010 R3 SP4 or BE 2014. Here is the direct download link for 2010 R3 - http://trialware.norton.com/files/fc/Backup_Exec_2010_13.0.5204_MultiPlatforms_Multilingual_DVD.iso

Once upgraded to BE 2010 R3, run LiveUpdate to completely patch up the server with SP4. Update the remote agents as well by pushing out them.

Move this install of BE 2010 R3 SP4 from the old server to new server. (BE 15 requires a x64 bit media server). Use this KB for moving BE 2010 R3 SP4 across to the new server.

https://support.symantec.com/en_US/article.TECH129826.html

Once the migration is complete, run the installation setup of BE 15 for the upgrade.

[pkh]

I don't think there is a need to upgrade the remote agents to BE 2010 before upgrading the media server to BE 15.  They can be upgraded immediately to BE 15 after the media server is upgraded to BE 15.

[VJware]

BE 15 remote agents will not install directly on systems running BE 12.5 agents. Either they are upraded to BE 2010 R3 SP4 and above or uninstalled before BE 15 is installed.

[KevinBCI]

Thanks all for the suggestions.  I did manage to get the new server started on backups, so I'll upgrade the old one as suggested and import the logs afterwards.  I wanted to make sure I had a working solution before messing with the old production server.

Thanks again.